Families with babies born this year are being invited to take part in a new study which will track their experiences growing up in Ireland.
Between 15,000 and 16,000 randomly sampled families from all over the country who have a nine-month-old baby are to be invited to take part in the major national survey.
The Growing Up In Ireland study will be conducted by the Central Statistics Office, and is the first national survey of its kind in 16 years.
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The new infant group will join the existing two cohorts which were recruited in 1998 and 2008.
The previous studies were carried out by the Economic Social and Research Institute.
The longitudinal survey will follow the progress of the children as they grow up and is designed to inform the creation of policies which will improve the delivery of services for families.
The CSO said there have been “significant social, economic, and policy changes” in Ireland since the 2008 cohort.
Jennifer Banim, director general of the CSO, said: “Growing up in Ireland will be one of the most valuable surveys undertaken by the CSO as it captures the experience of parents and children growing up in Ireland and the impact of societal changes.
“The survey helps highlight changes such as how much time children spend playing outdoors or how families and children have responded to the challenges of mobile phones and social media, or changes in mental health.”
The Taoiseach said the surveys have been of “immense value in creating policy”.
Simon Harris said: “There is always more that we can do to improve, and having more up-to-date information on babies born now will allow us to deliver even more improvements.
“It will also help us to track and compare with previous groups so that we can see what is working well and what needs to change.”